{"id":581507,"date":"2026-04-02T21:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/581507\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T21:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T21:53:12","slug":"england-head-coach-shortlist-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/581507\/","title":{"rendered":"England head coach shortlist revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

The race for the England<\/a> head coach role is heating up, with the job title being narrowed down to three candidates ahead of the Rugby League<\/a> World Cup in October.<\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos<\/a> coach Brad Arthur<\/a>, South Sydney Rabbitohs<\/a> legend Sam Burgess<\/a> and Gold Coast Titans<\/a> assistant Brian McDermott are among the names being reported by NRL<\/a>.com that currently lead the race.<\/p>\n

With Willie Peters<\/a> confirming his appointment to the new NRL<\/a> franchise, the PNG Chiefs<\/a>, it has ruled him out of contention to take over the English role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Peters was the frontrunner for the task, taking over Hull KR<\/a> four seasons ago, turning them from cellar-dwellers to Super League<\/a> premiers while also dismantling the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> to claim the crown as world champs.<\/p>\n

The England<\/a> coach is set to be announced in April, with the Rugby Football League creating a shortlist of coaches who they believe can take over the head gig.<\/p>\n

Former England<\/a> coach Shaun Wane<\/a> stood down in January following a disappointing Ashes series, where England<\/a> failed to land a blow on the Kangaroos.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Arthur is looking to make the step-up from Leeds Rhinos<\/a>, with many speculating he is line for the Manly Sea Eagles<\/a> role after Anthony Seibold’s sacking last week.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, McDermott has a great rap sheet of accolades in the Super League<\/a>, claiming four titles with the Rhinos along with Challenge Cup and World Club Challenge wins.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sam Burgess<\/a> is also widely speculated to take over an NRL<\/a> position at some point, and is currently applying his trade for the Warrington Wolves<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He played 24 tests in England<\/a> colours, and would instill a significant amount of belief and passion into the jersey, similar to the way he carried himself on the field.<\/p>\n

England<\/a> will play their first game of the 2026 RLWC on October 17 in Perth against an imposing Tongan outfit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race for the England head coach role is heating up, with the job title being narrowed down…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-581507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}